Seed.com identifies areas of media coverage that AOL deems to be of interest and then assigns freelance journalists and photographers to the task. The StudioNow acquisition will make it easier for video content to be worked into the mix.

In a somewhat related announcement, AOL has hired former Google and Microsoft product and engineering manager Jeff Reynar to head an engineering and development center in New York, which is where AOL relocated in late 2007. AOL already operates similar development centers in Mountain View, Calif.; San Francisco; Bangalore, India; Dublin, Ireland; Tel Aviv, Israel; and its former worldwide headquarters in Dulles, Va.

"I'm excited by the prospect of finding engineers here and bringing new, young engineering talent to New York City to develop products that will make a tangible difference to consumers," Reynar said in a statement. "New York is the media capital of the world and bringing more engineering into the content business will make the Internet even more useful than it is today."

AOL also has launched a search for a new chief technology officer; current CTO, Ted Cahall, is leaving the company.

About the author

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos.
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